Where does one start when they try out a RTS turned based game that lacks in so many categories? For starters, you push on and try to find the good in a game. Every once in a while you try something that’s annoying at first, conceding that sometimes it can be on the player instead of the game. Other times, yeah a few glitches here and there but that can happen in a game and it’s sometimes fixed quickly by a patch – certainly forgivable if the developer offers up a mea culpa. Honestly, when I saw the title screen I felt I was brought back to the PS1 when I first played Wipeout 3. I didn’t get the great soundtrack though, instead you get a game where the people at Brain Candy for the PC seemed to have been given a 2 month window to come up with the best turned based game possible, and it failed to deliver – no surprise.

Video Review

I’m A-Frayed Not

The game asks you to pick a corporation you will be loyal to and pick out your squad of 4 out of 6 classes, from Snipers, to Assault, Tank, Medic characters. Each has their own unique abilities for your match. Once you’re on the field you have a limited amount of time during a match to give out commands to your squad. You can control their stances that affect their accuracy, power, etc as well as pick up equipment and use at your leisure, then click ready to watch fireworks. Afterwards, you get see the end result of your planning and breakdown quickly what happened during the live action sequence. Yet buggy game play and inconsistent mechanics, from key bindings that don’t work will ruin this experience.

What Gameplay?

This isn’t your mothers hopscotch

While I wanted to hit my deadline and get this review in on time, it’s a rarity when you can’t do that because you don’t have any content to go on. Fray offers only a multiplayer mode, that’s it. Most of us would prefer to just try out a game first, get a feel for it then maybe go back and read documentation about it later. Yet with no single player mode or A.I to practice with, you have to hope to find an opponent, and with a small community it’s almost impossible to find a game. If you get lucky and do get a match, you get a sense that there’s no matchmaking so you end up with either a game with a newbie like yourself that could take a while to make his move, or a vet who could be too quick and forces you to make your moves faster than you want. You end up making mistakes and there’s no way to hone in on your skills due to the fact that finding a game is so difficult.

Closing comments

I was excited to dive into a genre I haven’t been able to play that much in a while but my excitement was quickly destroyed faster than you can move your squad. While I didn’t experience so many of the in-game problems mentioned by the community, who have complained about crashing and other several glitches that plagues this title, most of us are walking away with the same feeling. For twenty bucks, this game is in no shape or form worth the investment, and it should be a consolation after purchasing another title on Steam. Save your money, you’ll be a better person for it.

Overall Ratings – Fray (PC)

Gameplay:

2/10

Sound:

6/10

Graphics:

4/10

Multiplayer:

2/10

OVERALL SCORE:

35%

Carl Armstrong

Carl Armstrong has been with GI for over four years, serving as a review writer, on-site reporter and Associate Editor. He's worked as an award winning radio show producer for The Mighty 1090 sports station, Xtrasports 1360 and was the executive technical director for the San Diego Chargers radio network from 2008-2012.